(The following is the November 12 devotional from my Next Step Devotions book. Before reading it, I suggest you read 1 Peter 4 and pay close attention to verses 1-6.)
It would be enlightening to have a chart of our lives that shows how much time we’ve spent in godly versus sinful pursuits. We’d probably see periods of firm faithfulness to Christ and others when we failed him miserably.
Peter wrote about the contrast between living for God’s will versus sinfulness: “For there has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do” (v. 3), and he listed some of those sins. Peter mentioned how such people try to entice believers into the same behaviors, slandering them when they refuse to participate. He reminds us that such people will have to give account to God for their actions (v. 5).
As new creations in Christ, Christians should live differently. We want to “live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but God’s will” (v. 2), and that desire should increase as we grow in holiness. We don’t execute our holy desires flawlessly, as Paul acknowledged: “For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do” (Rom. 7:18-19). Nevertheless, pleasing God is the desire of changed hearts.
Whether we’re always successful or not living godly lives, we rejoice that we are new creations in him. We experience godly sorrow when we fail him, confessing those times and moving forward in faith. May Peter’s words be true of us: “There has already been enough time spent in doing what the Gentiles choose to do.” “Live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but God’s will.”
Next Step:
Which category would dominate your most recent months in a chart showing your time spent on sinful versus godly pursuits? What would the trendline be over the last several years?
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